Mine roof supports



June 2, 1970 P. SHUTTLEWORTH 3,514,961

MINE ROOF SUPPORTS Filed NOV. 19, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet l PETER SN'JTTLE'WORT H INVENTOR:

W, 3%du J1me 1970 P. SHUTTVLEWORTH 3,514,961

MINE ROOF SUPPORTS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed NOV. 19, 1968 INVENTOR: PETER SHUTTLE WORTH June 2, 1970 P. SHUTTLEWORTH 3,514,961

MINE ROOF SUPPORTS Filed Nov. 19, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 mveuron: PETER saurue WORTH United States Patent US. C]. 6145 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention concerns mine roof supports and the provision of controls for adjusting the height and position of same. The invention provides control means which may be mounted on one or other or both sides of a support and is accessible without an operative having to stand under the support itself. Linkage means is also provided by the invention in interconnecting the control means when duplicated controls are provided and a device is also disclosed by which limited independent operation of the control means on one side of the support can be effected relative to the control means on the other side of the support.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION This invention concerns mine roof supports and in particular the control and adjustment thereof.

As a mining operation proceeds it is necessary to make frequent adjustments to the height and position of each mine roof support. To this end the roof canopy of each support is carried by a number of vertical, telescopic legs each including a hydraulic ram, so that the roof canopy can be raised or lowered to suit varying heights of seam. In addition, where the supports are employed in conjunction with a face conveyor, each is separately secured to the conveyor frame by a horizontal telescopic hydraulic ram mounted on the support. The supports can thus be moved towards and away from the conveyor by retracting or extending the rams.

The controls for retracting or extending the hydraulic rams forming the legs and joining each support to the conveyor, are mounted separately on each support. Hitherto these controls have only been accessible to an operator when he is actually under the support, so that it has been necessary for the operator to be under the support whilst it is adjusted, either in height or towards or away from the conveyor.

It will be appreciated that whilst such an arrangement is usually quite safe, there are occasions when a support might fail or the controls might jam with the possibility of serious injury to the operator.

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a roof support which does not suffer from this disadvantage.

According to the present invention, in a mine roof support, controls by which adjustment of the height and position of the support can be made are provided at least on one side of the support so as to be accessible from a position which is not underneath the roof canopy of that support. Preferably controls are provided on both sides of the support so that the support can becontrolled from either side.

Each of the controls may comprise two or more levers but conveniently the controls on either the one, or both sides of the support are combined into a single operating lever similar to the gear lever of a motor vehicle. Each such lever may be mounted for sliding and pivoting movement, the axis of pivoting being at an angle, preferably a right angle, to the direction of sliding. Thus the lever 3,514,961 Patented June 2, 1970 can occupy five positions, a central, neutral postion and four distinct operating positions. Where two such levers are provided, one on each side of the support, the two levers are preferably so interlinked, that the operating positions of the one correspond to those of the other.

The invention will now be further described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a mine roof support having side mounted controls,

-FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the underside of the roof canopy between the two front legs of the support of FIG. 1 with the canopy sectioned along the line XX in FIG. 1 and the legs shown in dotted outline only, for clarity, and

FIG. 3 is a view of the interior of the valve block of the roof support.

The mine roof support shown in FIG. 1 comprises a roof canopy 10 supported above a base frame 12 by forward and rearward hydraulic props, or legs 14, 16 respectively. The rear of the support is protected by a wrap-around flushing shield 18 and a hingled flap 20 which serves to cover any gap between the shield and canopy, when the latter is raised.

The support additionally comprises a horizontal hydraulic ram (not shown) mounted in the base frame to extend between the front legs 14 for connection to a conveyor frame (also not shown) to advance/retract the support relative thereto. The supply of hydraulic fluid to the hydraulic rams in the legs 14, 16 and the advancing/ retracting ram (not shown) is controlled by valves contained in a single valve block 22, located underneath the roof canopy 10, between the front legs 14. The valves are operated by two levers 24, (only one being visible in FIG. I) mounted one on each side of the support.

The valve block 22 and operating levers 24 are better,

seen in FIG. 2. Here it will be seen that the valve block 22 is secured, between the front legs 14 of the support, to a plate 26 which in turn is secured to the underside of two channel members 28, 30 forming part of the roof canopy of the support.

The valves in the valve block 22 are operated by movement of two shafts 32 and 3-4 which extend beyond the two opposite sides of the block 22. In the position shown in FIG. 2. the valves are in a neutral or closed position and are opened by selectively operating one of the two shafts in the appropriate manner. Shaft 34 is mounted for rotational movement and is prevented from sliding axially. One valve can be opened by rotating this shaft clockwise and another opened by rotating this shaft anticlockwise, from the position shown. The other shaft 32 is mounted for sliding movement only. A third valve can be opened by sliding this shaft in one direction and a fourth valve opened by sliding it in the opposite direction from that shown.

To achieve the appropriate movement of the two shafts 32, 34 the two levers 24 are held between parallel jaws 36 at the ends of two rods 38 linked to opposite ends of the shaft 34. In this way rotational drive can be imparted from the levers 24 to the rods 38. The joints between the rods 38 and shaft 34 are semi-flexible and permit rotational movement of the one to be transmitted tothe other. Thus by swinging either of the levers 24, either forwards or backwards, one or the other of the two first mentioned valves may be opened. The rods 38 are of circular cross-section over the greater part of their length and are carried at their outer ends by end plates 39.

To achieve sliding movement of the shaft 32 a sleeve 40 is fitted as a free sliding fit over each rod 38. The inner end of each sleeve 40 includes a flange 42 which engages in one of two slots 44 formed at opposite ends of the shaft 32. The outer end of each sleeve 40 includes an upstanding fin 46 which is mechanically linked connecting link 50 to one of the two levers 24.

Although each lever 24 is sandwiched between parallel jaws 36 so as to prevent relative rotational movement of the lever and rods, each lever is in fact mounted by a pin 48 in the slot between the jaws 36, about which it can be swung, in the plane of the slot. As seen in FIG. .2, the left-hand lever is extended beyond the slot and is pivotally joined by another pin 52 to the left-hand link 50. On the other side of the support,'however, the righthand. lever 24 is not extended beyond its slot, but the right hand link is pivotally joined to the right-hand lever by a pin 54; which passes through the lever 24 between the pivot pin 48 and the remote end of the operating lever. Although'not shown, each link 50' is secured to a fin 46 so that if either of the two levers 2-4 is swung about its pivot pin 48, the sleeve 40 is urged towards or away fromthe valve block 22 and the shaft 32 is slid to the left or right. It will be seen that the linkage between the levers 24 and the sleeves 40 is such that, swinging, either lever 24 towards the valve block 22 will cause the shaft 32 to slide towards the left while swinging either lever 24 outwardly away from the valve block 22 will cause the shaft 32 to slide towards the right.

Since the two levers 24 are mounted on the sides of the support they can be operated'by an operator situated under, for example, an adjacent support in a line support. Thus the operator need not in fact be underneath a support while it is being moved or adjusted in height, as has been the case hitherto.

'FIG. 3 of the drawings illustrates the interior of the valve block 22 and depicts valve operating cams 56, 58 for operating respectively the leg release valves (not shown) of the support and a cam 60 for operating a valve (not shown) for raising. The cam 58 is mounted on a stub shaft 62 while the two cams 56, 60 are mounted on a second stub shaft 64, axially aligned with the stub shaft 62. The two stub shafts 62, 64 extend beyond the valve block 22 to form the shaft 34 (see FIG. 2).

A lost motion coupling generally designated '66 is provided between the two stub shafts 62, 6'4. Rotation of the left-hand handle (see FIG. 3) to operate the release valves, will cause cam 56 to engage first, followed by cam 58, on continued movement of the operating lever, as the lost motion in the coupling 66 is taken up. Thus the left-hand valve may be operated independently of the right-hand valve.

Conversely, operating of the right-hand handle (see FIG. 3) also to operate the release valves, will produce operation of the right-hand valve first and then operation of the left-hand valve.

Both release valves can be operated simultaneously by rapid movement of either lever to its maximum position.

Only one cam 60 is provided for operating the energise valve(s) (not shown) for raising the support legs. Thus, this valve will be operated by operation of either the left-hand or right-hand lever-although the necessary travel of the right-hand lever (see FIG. 3), will exceed the travel of the left-hand lever.

I claim:

1. A mine roof support comprising a base, a canopy, shield means protecting the rear of the support from flushing waste, extensible support means for supporting the canopy above the base and drive means for moving the support, control means on the support to selectively eifect adjustment of the extensible support means and the drive means, and manually operable controls connected bya to said control means and located in close proximity to' a side edge of the canopy so as to be accessible from a position not underneath the roof canopy of the support. 2. In a support as set forth in claim 1 the manually operable controls comprise a plurality of levers,

3. In a support as set forth in claim 1 the manually operable controls are duplicated and are provided on both sides of the support.

4. In a support as set forth in claim 3 each manually operable control comprises a single operating lever and means mounting the lever for movement into a pluarlity of separate distinct positions.

5. In a support as set forth in claim 4 first and second means connecting each lever to the control means, a first mecanical connection between the lever and the first connecting means to transmit pivoting movement of the lever to the first connecting means about one axis and to allow pivoting of the lever relative to the first connecting means about a second axis at an angle to the one axis and a second mechanical connection between the lever and the second connecting means to cause relative sliding movement of the first and second connecting means in response to pivoting of the lever about the second axis relative'to the first connecting means.

6. In a support as set forth in claim 5 the angle between said one axis and the second axis is a right angle and the lever is movable from a central, neutral position to four separate distinct operating positions by pivoting in one .direction or the other about one axis and by pivoting in one direction or the other about the second axis.

7. In a mine roof support which includes means for adjusting the height and position of the support, duplicate control means on both sides of the support to effect adjustment of the height and position of the support from a position not underneath the roof canopy of the support, said control means each including a single operating lever and means mounting the lever for sliding and pivoting movement into a plurality of separate distinct positions, the angle between the axis of pivoting and the direction of sliding of the lever being a right angle, and the lever being movable from a central, neutral position to four separate distinct operating positions by sliding in one direction or the other and by pivoting in one direction or the other.

8. In a support as set forth in claim 7 means interlinking the lever on one side of the support with the lever on the other side of the support so that the operating positions of the one lever correspond to those of the lever.

9. In a support as set' forth in claim 8 wherein the support comprisesleft andright hand front legs which can be raised and lowered hydraulically and valve means controlling the supply of hydraulic fluid to and from the legs, separate valve means being provided for each leg, a lost motion connection in the means interlinking the levers to allow limited movement of each lever independently of the lever on the other side of the support to efiect operation of the control of the valve associated with one leg of the support independently of operation of the valve associated with the other leg of the support, movement of either lever beyond said limited amount eifecting operation of both valves.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,657,028 10/1953 Joy 61-45 3,164,066 1/1965 Frye et al. 91l70 X 3,217,608 11/1965 Bolton et a1. 91-412 FOREIGN PATENTS 972,824 10/1964 Great Britain. 1,015,161 12/1965 Great Britain. 1,127,842 4/ 1962 Germany. 1,215,092 4/ 1966 Germany.

DENNIS L. TAYLOR, Primary Examiner 

